The Cyclist
The Cyclist (Persian: بايسيكلران Bicycleran) is a 1987 Iranian sports-drama film written and directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, starring Moharram Zaynalzadeh as Abu Ahmed.
Plot[]
Nasim, a poor Afghan refugee in Iran, gives a demonstration in his town's square where he rides his bicycle without stopping for seven days and seven nights, with the aim of raising money for life-saving surgery for his dying wife. In the end, even after seven days, he continues to pedal endlessly, too fatigued to hear his son's and the crowd's pleas to get off his bicycle.[1] One scholar analyses the film as an allegory which parallels the exploitation that Afghan refugees suffer from in Iran and from which they are unable to escape.[2]
Accolades[]
In 1991 the film won the best narrative film award in the Hawaii International Film Festival.[3]
References[]
- Adelkhah, Fariba; Olszewska, Zuzanna (2007), "The Iranian Afghans", Iranian Studies, 40 (2): 137–165, doi:10.1080/00210860701269519, S2CID 159791018
External links[]
- The Cyclist at IMDb
- 1987 films
- 1980s sports drama films
- Films set in Iran
- Iranian films
- Persian-language films
- Films directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Cycling films
- Films whose director won the Best Directing Crystal Simorgh
- 1987 drama films
- Films whose writer won the Best Screenplay Crystal Simorgh
- Iranian film stubs
- 1980s drama film stubs